Pakistan cricket banks on experience, Rana Naved ban overturned
All-rounder Rana Naved has finally succeeded in having the one year ban imposed on him overturned by Pakistan Cricket Board after waiting for more than seven months since the imposition of the punishment in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 this year.
The punishments were handed out at the end of the disastrous tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 where the Pakistanis lost all nine international matches under the listless captaincy of Mohammad Yousuf.
A total of seven players were either banned, suspended of fined heavily by the governing body of the game yet other than Rana Naved and Younis Khan the rest have all appeared for the national team.
The all-rounder, who has been in and out of the national team since his debut in 2003 was extremely happy to see his ban overturned, he vowed to make a comeback in the national team.
"Obviously this is a great relief for me as it's been hanging over my career for a few months now", Rana said, adding “I'm confident I can get back into the Pakistan side. I'm fit, I'm bowling well and I believe I can contribute".
Rana was handed over a two million fine and a one year ban for what the PCB claimed was undisciplined behaviour Down Under where the men in green plummeted to the lowest ebb in their sixty years of international cricket history.
Never before had Pakistan lost all international matches in a bilateral series, they were whitewashed 3-0 in tests, 5-0 in ODIs and were also beaten narrowly in the one-off T20 match they played in Melbourne’s MCG ground.
The all-rounder, who hails from Sheikhapura is not getting any younger and his official age stands at 32, yet there is real hope for him as recently the selection committee has recalled many senior players for various assignments in all formats of the game.
The likes of Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq, Taufiq Umar, Mohammad Sami and Misbah Ul Haq have all returned to the national fold. Pakistan’s cricket team seems to be a pack of over the hill players, who are extremely ordinary in the fielding
department.
The most astonishing comeback has been of Misbah Ul Haq, who after facing the axe in the aftermath of the T20 World Cup was reinstated for the Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in UAE as the captain.
Similarly, Rana Naved would be harbouring hopes of making a comeback after the tour ends. He has a good chance of making an immediate impression as he is set to feature for the most powerful T20 team in the country, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sialkot-c842 Stallions, who start the defence
of their national T20 title at the Qaddafi stadium in Lahore from tomorrow, Monday 11 October 2010.
Rana has thus far featured in 74 ODIs and 4 T20 matches for the national team. He has the ability to bowl at a lively pace and can swing the ball both ways.
He can be devastating with the old ball as he possesses a searing yorker reminiscent of the great Waqar Younis the current head coach of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
Rana hopes that he will win a berth in the World cup squad next year and for that he would have to put in some strong performances from now till the time the tournament takes place in February.
After the series against the Proteas in UAE, Pakistan is set to play a series in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, which is seen as a build up to the World Cup.
A total of six ODIs and three T20s are to be played there and it serves as an ideal opportunity for someone like Rana Naved to impress. However, for the time being he has to ensure that he gets a seat on the flight bound for New Zealand.
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